At the present time, a push type event notification service, which is called push notification or a message (also called a push message), has been widely used.
At this point, in WWW (World Wide Web) used in the Internet, pull-type communication allows a WWW server on the Internet to start communication (mainly, download) to an information processing terminal by a trigger from the information processing terminal, and the pull-type communication is exclusively used. On the other hand, the push notification is different in that it starts communication (mainly, download) for the information processing terminal by a trigger of a service server side of a service provider on the Internet.
The push notification is generally used in any communication from a server apparatus to the information processing terminal. The detailed use, for example, includes incoming communication in a voice communication service conforming to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), update communication of SNS (Social Networking Service), and the like. In the push notification, an event is actively notified from the server apparatus to the information processing terminal through a network conforming to IP (Internet Protocol).
A server apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a “push server”) transmitting a message receives a communication request of the incoming communication in the voice communication service conforming to the VoIP, the update communication of the SNS, chat message distribution, update communication of a cloud storage and the like from a service provider server (hereinafter, simply referred to as an “app server”). Herein, the app server is a server apparatus used by a service provider, which provides a service, such as an SNS manager.
The service provider provides in advance an application (hereinafter, simply referred to as an “app”) for using the service to a user. The user installs the app in an information processing terminal such as a cellular phone and a personal computer used by the user. The user operates the app provided from the service provider on the information processing terminal.
On the other hand, the service provider requests the push server to transmit a message, which is addressed to the app provided by the service provider, by using the app server. The push server transmits a message to software (hereinafter, referred to as a “push client”), which operates on an information processing terminal, according to the message transmission request. The push client hands over the received message to a destination app. The app performs a process corresponding to the content of the message received from the push client.
A description will be continued with reference to a sequence diagram of FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram for explaining the flow of a procedure in an event notification service.
Referring to FIG. 1, the present explanation example includes an information processing terminal 1000, a push server 1100, a message database 1200, and an app server 1300. Furthermore, the information processing terminal 1000 includes an app 1001 and a push client 1002.
Firstly, a message transmission request to the app 1001 is performed for the push server 1100 by the app server 1300 (step S1401).
The push server 1100 records a message in the message database 1200 (step S1402). Thereafter, the push server 1100 transmits a trigger packet indicating the presence of an untransmitted message to the push client 1002 of the information processing terminal 1000 serving as a destination of the message (step S1403).
The push client 1002 having received the trigger packet transmits a message acquisition request to the push server 1100 (step S1404).
The push server 1100 having received the message acquisition request acquires the message addressed to the information processing terminal 1000 from the message database 1200 (step S1405). Furthermore, the push server 1100 transmits the message to the push client 1002 as a response to the message acquisition request (step S1406).
The push client 1002 hands over the received message to the app 1001 (step S1407). The transmission of the message to the app 1001 is ended by such a procedure.
Such a scheme, in which after transmission preparation of data for a terminal in the push server is completed, the push server transmits a trigger to the terminal and the terminal having received the trigger acquires data from the push server, is disclosed in Patent Document 1 for example.
Furthermore, another example of such a push server includes a technology disclosed in Patent Document 2. The object of the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2 is to safely manage an identifier applied to a portable terminal in an information distribution system using a push notification service. The technology disclosed in Patent Document 2 prevents the leakage and the like of the identifier applied to the portable terminal by performing encryption communication in communication between a push server and a Web server included in the information distribution system.